Minke Whale - Whale Facts and Information Minke Whale Minke Whale – Genus Balaenoptera Description The Minke whale is the second smallest of the baleen category. They aren’t likely to be more than 35 feet long or to weigh more than 5.5 tons. They feature two blowholes and they are black and white in color. Other characteristics include two flippers that are very long, a dorsal fin that is small, and ridges around the back close to the tail. Behavior You won’t find the Minke Whale to be very social. Many of them tend to live alone. Others have a partner or a group of three. It is very rare except during migration that you will see more than that together. We know a great deal about them due to the high numbers. They tend to attract very large crowds of waters. In some locations there are cruise ships that take people out to see them. The Minke Whales in these areas have become very familiar with the ships. They will circle close around them which give the passengers on board a chance to witness these amazing creatures up close in their natural environment. They are also believed to be very curious so they may even be watching the people in return.

Diet/Feeding The Minke Whale features as many as 70 grooves in the throat area. This helps them with the process of scooping up water and materials from the water. They can then filter out what isn’t food for them. Their diet primarily consists of krill, small fish, herring, and cod. They move along about 6 miles per hour when they are feeding and about 24 miles per hour when they aren’t. Distribution The Minke Whale has been spotted in all the oceans but they prefer temperate and boreal waters. They do tend to like the areas surrounding them though and it isn’t uncommon to find them where there are thick layers of ice. They also found in the tropical and subtropical regions. Reproduction They mature much earlier than other whales at about three years. The baby is born 10 months after conception takes place. These calves are approximately 9 feet long and can weigh up to 1,000 pounds. Human Interaction Due to the small size, whaling used to not be a problem for the Minke Whale. Hunters like the trophy size whales and this isn’t one of them.

However, in the past several decades the number of them being killed due to hunting has reaches new heights. It is believed that this is a direct cause of so many other types of whales no longer being legal to hunt. Therefore they have to kill many more of them to get the same quantity of meat as they would with larger ones. Conservation There are more Minke Whales than any other in the class of baleen. There are approximately 800,000 of them out there. However, they problem is that they only have a life expectancy of 50 years. This is drastically less than most other species of whales in the wild. There isn’t much done in the way of conservation for them at this point in time. There are simply too many other types of whales that are at risk for such efforts to be focused upon. A close eye is watched over them though to make sure they don’t end up dropping dramatically in numbers. Early intervention can take place through conservation efforts if necessary. One thing we have learned through whale conservation efforts is that it can take a long time to get the numbers back up if we allow them to get too low.

Categories What is the Conservation Status of the Whales in the Southern Ocean?: An All Creatures Animal Rights Article What is the Conservation Status of the Whales in the Southern Ocean? From all-creatures.org By Captain Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society January 2010 Outside of Japan there is very little support from the scientific community. This is simply an attempt to use science as an excuse to profit from the slaughter of whales - just commercial whaling in a poor disguise. The Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) is a front for commercial whaling. It has been a front for commercial whaling since 1987 and was established in response to the implementation of an international ban on commercial whaling by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986. The international scientific community does not regard research conducted by Japanese whalers as legitimate. There is no science involved; it’s all a con and a masquerade and that is what it has been since 1987. The ICR is little more than a bogus front for an illegal enterprise heavily subsidized by the Japanese government and influenced greatly by the nefarious manipulations of the Japanese Yakuza.

It is interesting that for years ever since I was tipped off about Yakuza involvement I have never had a single spokesperson for the ICR or the Japanese government deny my publicized accusations about Yakuza involvement. The fact is that the Japanese Union that provides crew to the Japanese whaling fleet is a Yakuza controlled union. Nazi propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels once remarked that if a lie is told often enough people will begin to see the lie as truth. The lie the ICR has been telling for twenty-three years is emblazoned on the side of the floating abattoir named the Nisshin Maru. In big bold white lettering conveniently written in English is the word “RESEARCH.” There are no sophisticated laboratories on this sea-going slaughterhouse, but there is machinery for cutting-up, flash-freezing, and efficient packaging of frozen whale meat. The slaughter of the Antarctic Minke whale has been justified by the Japanese insistence that Minke whale populations are growing rapidly. However a recent and much more credible study by Stanford University based on real research on Minke whale DNA has found that the populations are in fact not increasing.

The study states, “An analysis of Minke whale DNA, by a Stanford research team has revealed that the current population of Antarctic Minke whales is well within the historical norm of the species over the last 100,000 years. There is no absolutely evidence of a significant increase in the population of Antarctic Minke whales.” The ICR has been claiming that the population of Antarctic Minke whales has risen significantly since World War II and that Japan's so called scientific whaling program has been "sampling" increasing numbers of them each year on the grounds that reducing the number of Minkes is actually a benefit to the whales. In other words, they have to kill them to save them. Conveniently the “samples” end up on the plates of diners in Japanese restaurants and in the freezer section of Japanese supermarkets. The ICR continues to insist that Minke populations are increasing. However, this new scientific analysis of the whales' DNA by the Stanford research team has demonstrated the opposite conclusion.

There is no evidence of a significant increase in the population of Minke whales and the research demonstrates that the current population of Antarctic Minke whales has not risen above what it has been since World War II: According to the study: Based on our genetic analysis, average Antarctic Minke whale populations over the past 100,000 years have been around 670,000," said Stephen Palumbi, professor of biology, director of Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station and senior fellow at the university's Woods Institute for the Environment. "That number easily falls within the range of current population estimates for the whales, as determined in studies by the International Whaling Commission," he said. Palumbi is the senior author of a paper describing the work, published in the journal Molecular Ecology. The controversy over the numbers of Antarctic Minke whales is rooted in the early 20th century, when commercial whalers killed an estimated 2 million large baleen whales in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. Blue, Humpback, Fin and Sei whale populations all plummeted.

According to some estimates, those whales, if they were still around, would annually eat as much as 150 million pounds of krill, a tiny, shrimp-like crustacean that is a dietary staple of all baleen whales. Some researchers have suggested that with so many large whales gone, the reduced competition for krill has created an opportunity for the Minke to flourish. According to the report, “If the Antarctic Minke whale population has boomed, then their large numbers might be inhibiting the recovery of other whale species that had been overexploited. This idea has been heavily promoted by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as one of the main justifications for Japan's annual slaughter of Minke whales. But until now, no one had any scientific data to either support or refute the theory of a minke population boom.” "You can look at a claim of Minke whales being super abundant as being a testable scientific hypothesis that has been sitting there for a very long time, without being tested or refuted," Palumbi said.

"So we decided to work out the ways of testing that hypothesis." To determine whether the current population of Minke whales represents a boom, Palumbi's team, including postdoctoral researcher Kristen Ruegg, had to compare it to population numbers over tens of thousands of years. Trying to estimate the population of any animal species that far back in time is obviously a challenge, but by looking at the variability in modern DNA, researchers can do just that. A type of genetic mutation called a "silent mutation" is a minor change to an individual's DNA that has no effect on its ability to survive. These silent mutations are passed on to subsequent generations and add to a population's genetic diversity over time. Because the mutations occur at a predictable rate, the accumulation of mutations– and the variability – in modern individuals can be used to work backward and estimate what the population size had to have been at a given point in the past for the number of mutations in the modern whale's DNA to accumulate. "We have done a lot of work over the last couple of years on pinning that mutation rate down, estimating the variability in rate across many genes and applying it to a well-accepted model of how DNA evolves," Palumbi said.

"Those advances have come out in a series of papers over the last couple of years, and so we were ready to use this to test the Minke boom hypothesis." But the first challenge in doing the analysis was simply obtaining some DNA. Mounting an expedition to the frigid waters of the Antarctic is neither easy nor inexpensive, but there is one place where Minke whale DNA can be obtained with relative ease – the seafood markets of Japan. Whale meat is sold in these markets to help defray the cost of the Japanese scientific whaling voyages. Palumbi's team has been going to Japan to obtain Minke meat for the last 15 years, collaborating with Oregon State University scientist Scott Baker, and has developed a network of buyers who visit fish markets throughout central Japan for them. Ironically, the only scientific research being done was by American researchers using whale meat taken by the Japanese whalers. This research has proven the Japanese theories wrong. Perhaps the Japanese came to the same conclusion with their own research, but we don’t know about it because their research remains unpublished. The Stanford team set up their own mobile molecular lab in Japan.

"They bring the meat to us and we set up a little molecular lab in our hotel room in Tokyo and extract and copy the DNA there in the hotel," he said. The team then brings back a "gazillion" copies for analysis. The report continues: The average population of 670,000 Minkes that Palumbi's team estimated with their DNA analysis falls well within the population estimates by the International Whaling Commission for the late 20th century. The commission supervised several field surveys that estimated the Antarctic Minke whale population was about 608,000 between 1978 and 1984, and roughly 766,000 from 1985 to 1991. Palumbi said the Japanese estimate the current Minke population at 760,000. "They put that number on every package of Minke whale meat that they sell,"he said. An unpublished 2006 report of another population survey supervised by the commission suggests that the Minke population may actually be declining, rather than booming or remaining steady.

None of the estimates support the notion of a late 20th-century population explosion of Antarctic Minke whales when compared with Palumbi's historical estimate. "The hypothesis of a population explosion resulting from krill abundance has no validity," Palumbi said. "We can refute it, and that failed idea is no reason whatsoever to be hunting Minke whales." Palumbi said the larger goal of the study was to provide accurate information to use in managing the Antarctic minke whale population. "What any kind of management needs is scientific data," he said. "If you don't test a hypothesis, if you just assert that something is really important and then move on to your management plan from that standpoint, then not only is that management plan likely to be wrong, but you have no way of improving it over time," he said. The Japanese have not explained the reasons they have added endangered Fin and Humpback whales to their kill quota. Fortunately, Sea Shepherd has prevented the killing of these whales by slowing the fleet down. Normally the Fins are killed after the Minke whales, and when Sea Shepherd slows down the Minke whale quota it affects the Japanese whaling fleet’s ability to pursue Fin whales.

Only one Fin whale has been slain in the last two years due to Sea Shepherd’s efforts. The Japanese have not attempted to kill a Humpback whale because of political pressure resulting from the negative publicity about their illegal whaling activities. In July 2009, New Scientist magazine stated that there was no scientific validity to Japan’s so- called research whaling. The scientific committee of the IWC rejects the validity of the ICR research. Outside of Japan there is very little support from the scientific community. This is simply an attempt to use science as an excuse to profit from the slaughter of whales - just commercial whaling in a poor disguise. Please Help Our Efforts We welcome your comments: Fair Use Notice: This document may contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. We believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

All Creatures Animal Rights Article: justice, peace, love, compassion, ethics, organizations, Bible, God, Lord, Jesus, Christ, Holy Spirit, grass roots, animals, cruelty free, lifestyle, hunting, fishing, trapping, farm, farming, factory, fur, meat, slaughter, cattle, beef, pork, chicken, poultry, hens, battery, debeaking. Thee is also a similarity to the human aspects of prolife, pro life, pro-life, abortion, capital punishment, and war. Thank you for visiting all-creatures.org. Since Newsletter - Dive with Minke Whales Creature Feature Common name: Minke whale Scientific name: Balaenoptera acutorostrata Minkes are the smallest of the great whales and are part of the order of cetacea which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. They are baleen whales meaning they filter food from the water rather than by biting prey. The minke whales that visit Australia are a possible 3rd subspecies, in addition to common minkes and Antarctic minkes. Distinguishing Features The family name Balaenopteridae can be loosely translated to baleen whale with a fin.

Dwarf minkes are streamlined with a triangular pointed snout. They have dozens of grooves from throat to belly which allow for the expansion necessary when filter-feeding. They have 2 blowholes and they have a white band on each flipper which contain the same bones as the human hand! The flippers are used for manoeuvering, not propulsion. The female is generally larger than the male with the largest specimen of the species measured at 7.8m in length, while the average is about 5m. Behaviour and Interaction These acrobatic little whales are sometimes seen in pods but tend to be solitary. When there is a large food source they can aggregate in numbers. As fast swimmers they can reach speeds of 30 to 40 km/h and have been seen swimming to keep up with boats for up to 30 minutes. They are known to bubble-blast, spy-hop at the surface and to breach spectacularly. The jury is out whether breaching is for the removal of parasites, for communication, or simply for fun.

At the surface they will breathe 5 or 6 times a minute before a deep dive, where they remain submerged for 6-12 minutes on average and 20 minutes maximum. When sharing the water with minke whales it is advised to remain still and allow the whales to approach you. They sometimes come within just a few metres. Under Australian law it is illegal to swim to a whale closer than 30m or to touch them, but the law does not apply to the whale swimming up to you! The sounds you will experience can range from 3 pulses and a longer note, to sounds like grunting, moaning and belching. 'Experience' is the relevant word here since you may not only hear them but feel the vibrations in your bones. Feeding Habits The dwarf minke whale's diet includes krill, small crabs, squid, anchovies and sardines. Techniques include trapping the schools at the surface, or side-lunging into schools as sea birds circle in the air above. Reproduction and Life Cycle Maturing sexually between 3 and 8 years of age, dwarf minkes breed every 2 years in between the southern hemisphere's late winter and early spring.

It is believed that mating is the reason they gather on the Great Barrier Reef in such numbers. Between June and August you can see them swimming belly-to-belly. 10 months after conception, a single calf emerges weighing 450 kg and measuring 2m in length. Instinctively it swims to the surface to take its first breath and after 30 minutes it can swim without any maternal assistance. Nursing for 5-10 months, the calf may stay with its mother for over a year. It is believed they grow for about the first 20 years and have an average life span of around 50 years. Predation Killer whales are known to prey on minkes, particularly in the southern hemisphere. In recent years minkes have begun to be taken by human whalers to a more significant extent, having depleted larger species. Since the 1970s Japan, Russia and Norway have focussed their efforts on minke whales. Some whales have been seen in Australia with scars seemingly from the traditional harpoons used in South Pacific island nations. Ecological Considerations Threats they face include ingestion of marine debris, as evidenced by studying stomach contents, and entanglement in fishing gear.

Sea temperature rises and acidification could impact on their food sources as well as their migratory patterns. The diverse spread of minkes makes estimating numbers a challenge although they are not currently considered to be an 'at risk' species. The dwarf minke is a protected species under the Australia Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and studies in Australian waters have counted several hundred dwarf minke individuals. Distribution Minke whales in general occur worldwide in polar, temperate and tropical waters. The common minke whale is generally found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, seldom in the southern hemisphere which is the domain of the Antarctic and dwarf minke whales . 1000+ images about Baleen whales on Pinterest | Amazing photos, Whales and Baleen whales whale image | BBC Nature - Grey whale videos, news and facts See More Learn About the 14 Baleen Whale Species Learn About the 14 Baleen Whale Species Sign Up for Our Free Newsletters Thanks, You're in! What I Learned About Today You might also enjoy: Health Tip of the Day Recipe of the Day There was an error. Please try again. Please select a newsletter. Please enter a valid email address. Did you mean ?

Seahorses Updated August 29, 2016. There are currently 86 recognized species of whales, dolphins and porpoises . Of these, 14 are Mysticetes , or baleen whales. These whales feed using a filtering system made up of baleen plates, which allow the whale to feed on large quantities of prey at once while filtering out sea water. Below you can learn about the 14 species of a baleen whales - for a lengthier list that includes other whale species, click here . Kim Westerskov/Photographer's Choice/Getty Images • Blue Whale - Balaenoptera musculus Blue whales are thought to be the largest animal ever to live on the Earth. They reach lengths up to about 100 feet and can weigh 100-190 tons. Their skin is a beautiful gray-blue color, often with a mottling of light spots. This pigmentation allows researchers to tell individual blue whales apart. Blue whales also make some of the loudest sounds in the animal kingdom. These low frequency sounds travel a long way underwater - some scientists have speculated that without interference, a blue whale sound could travel from the North Pole to the South Pole.

More » continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge Fin whale and calf in the Gulf of Maine. © Dianna Schulte/Blue Ocean Society • Fin Whale - Balaenoptera physalus The fin whale is the second-largest animal in the world, with a mass greater even than any dinosaur. These are fast, streamlined whales that sailors nicknamed "the greyhounds of the sea". Fin whales have a unique asymmetrical coloration - they have a white patch on their lower jaw on their right side, and this is absent on the whale's left side. More » Sei whale, showing the whale's head and mouth. © Jennifer Kennedy / Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation • Sei Whale - Balaenoptera borealis Sei (pronounced "say") whales are one of the fastest whales species. They are a streamlined animal with a dark back and white underside and very curved dorsal fin. Their name came from the Norwegian word for pollock (a type of fish) - seje - because sei whales and pollock often appeared off the coast of Norway at the same time.

More » • Bryde's Whale - Balaenoptera edeni The Bryde's (pronounced "broodus") whale is named for Johan Bryde, who built the first whaling stations in South Africa (Source: NOAA Fisheries ). Bryde's whales look similar to sei whales, except they have 3 ridges on their head where a sei whale has one. Bryde's whales are 40-55 feet long and weigh up to about 45 tons. The scientific name for the Bryde's whale is Balaenoptera edeni, but there is increasing evidence that shows there may actually be two Bryde's whale species - a coastal species that would be known as Balaenoptera edeni and an offshore form known as Balaenoptera brydei. More » • Omura's Whale - Balaenoptera omurai The Omura's whale is a fairly new species designated in 2003. Until then, it was thought to be a smaller form of the Bryde's whale, but more recent genetic evidence supported classification of this whale as a separate species.

Although the exact range of Omura's whale is unknown, limited sightings have confirmed that it lives in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, including Southern Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and the Solomon Sea. Its appearance is similar to a sei whale in that it has one ridge on its head, and is also thought to have asymmetrical coloration on its head, similar to the fin whale. More » Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Calf Breaching. © Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation • Humpback Whale - Megaptera novaeangliae Humpback whales are a medium-sized baleen whale - they are about 40-50 feet long and weigh, on average, 20-30 tons. They have very distinctive long, wing-like pectoral fins that are about 15-feet long. Humpbacks undertake long migrations each season between high latitude feeding grounds and low latitude breeding grounds, often fasting for weeks or months during the winter breeding season. More » Gray whales in San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja, CA.

marc uhlig , Flickr • Antarctic Minke Whale - Balaenoptera bonaerensis The Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) was proposed for recognition as a species separate from the common minke whale in the late 1990's. This minke whale is slightly larger than its more northern relatives, and has gray pectoral fins, rather than gray fins with white pectoral fin patches seen on the common minke whale. These whales are typically found off Antarctica in the summer and closer to the equator (e.g., around South America, Africa and Australia) in the winter. You can see a range map for this species here . More » Bowhead Whales Off Alaska. NOAA Sea Animals List | All2Need Home » News » Sea Animals List Sea Animals List Posted by All2Need | On 3 June,2013 | In News Sea Animals List Sea Animals List : Barnacle is a hardy animal that is found in or very closely to sea water. Although it is frequently confused for a mollusc because of its hard outer shell, it is actually a crustacean, closely related to crabs and lobsters.

Blowfish are part of the Tetraodontidae family and are found in tropical waters near the coastal areas or deep within the sea. There are more than 100 species of blowfish, which grow on average from 3 to 20 inches long, though some species may reach 3 feet. Blowfish are lethal to humans, as they contain tetrodotoxin and/or saxitoxin. As of April 2010, there is no known antidote for the toxin of the blowfish. Bristlemouths are well camouflaged. When deep sea animals look up toward the ocean’s surface, they see other animals overhead as dark shapes against a lighter background. But by lighting two rows of photophores on its underside, this deep sea fish avoids casting its shadow on predators below––and can virtually disappear. Lined Chiton is a very colorful species, having blue, purple or black straight or zigzag lines on each of the eight valves. The background color of the valves is often brown or red, but can also be bright blue or yellow to orange. The girdle is hairless and brown to red or pink, often with regular yellow or white patches.

This species grows to 5 cm in length. Clams are found in the coastal waters of the sea and in shallow freshwater lakes and streams. Many clams are edible, and “clambake” picnics are popular along the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada. Clams are also used as fish bait, and their shells can be made into buttons. The shells were also sometimes used by American Indians to make wampum. Coral reef is one of the most diverse ecosystems on our planet. The sheer number of life forms on the reef rivals even that of the tropical rain forests. Built over thousands of years by tiny calcium-producing organisms, the reefs are a haven for countless thousands of life forms, some of which seem totally alien in form. It is a fairy tale world of bright colors and ever changing patterns. Cuttlefish is found in tropical and temperate seas. It has an oval body, somewhat flattened. The common cuttlefish (also called the common sepia) is 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) long and ranges in color from light gray to dark brown. Some species are much larger, attaining a length of more than two feet (60 cm).

A thin flap of skin like a frilled fin runs along each side. There are two prominent eyes. The mouth is surrounded by eight arms and two longer tentacles that bear suckers, used to catch prey (fish and crustaceans) or attach the animal to some object. Dolphins are beautiful creatures that are fun to watch. A dolphin is one of the most intelligent animals in the world. Dolphin’s First Day is a delightful story of a bottlenose dolphin. I owned this book for years and didn’t read it until now – that was silly, it’s a very good book. Dugong is a mammal, that is, it suckles its young. Dugong may reach 3m in length and weigh almost 500 kgs. They have a thick layer of fat giving them a distinctly rotund posture, small paddle-like flippers positioned far forward on the body and a broad, flattened, powerful tail that resembles the tail of whale. Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators.

The term “eel” is also used for some other similarly shaped fish, such as electric eels and spiny eels, but these are not members of the Anguilliformes order. Flashlight Fish are a family, the Anomalopidae, of beryciform fish. There are some unrelated fish with similar features, some of which are also called flashlight fish. Notable among these are the deep sea lanternfish, of the family Myctophidae, of which there are over 200 species. Jellyfish are members of the phylum Cnidaria, a structurally simple marine group of both fixed and mobile animals: sea anemones, sea whips, corals and hydroids are polyps that grow attached to rocks or other hard surfaces; jellyfish and colonial siphonophores like the Portuguese man-of-war are mobile (either actively swimming or subject to winds and currents). Inherent to both types of life history is their radial symmetry (body parts radiating from a central axis). This symmetry allows jellyfish to detect and respond to food or danger from any direction. Lanternfish are known as non-guarding pelagic spawners.

This means that the females release their eggs into the water column as a group where they are then fertilized externally by the males. Depending on the species, between 100 and 2,000 eggs are released by each fish. Spawning is believed to occur year around in most species. Once the eggs hatch, the young larvae have a small number of photophores for producing light. They are left to fend for themselves until they reach maturity. Lanternfish are so plentiful it is thought that their larvae may account for nearly 50% of all fish larvae found in the ocean. Lobsters are caught in both Atlantic and Pacific waters. They are often marketed alive, but their meat is also available frozen or canned. There are several kinds of lobsters; the most important commercially are the American lobster and various species of spiny lobsters. (Spiny lobsters are also known as rock lobsters and marine crayfish. Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows.

There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), and the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis). They measure up to 13 feet (4.0 m) long, weigh as much as 1,300 pounds (590 kg), and have paddle-like flippers. The name manat? comes from the Ta?no, a pre-Columbian people of the Caribbean, meaning “breast”. Mussels are bivalves, animals whose bodies are enclosed between two hinged shells. Freshwater and saltwater species thrive worldwide. The two most common species in the Pacific Northwest are the smooth-shelled blue mussel and the ribbed-shelled California mussel. These species do coexist, but generally, the blue mussel prefers protected waters while the California mussel favors the pounding surf of exposed coastal waters. The California mussel, with a shell up to 10 inches in size, grows larger than the blue,whose shell rarely grows to six inches.

Nautilus is the largest and most common of about six species known to exist. Like the coelacanth, it has remained unchanged for over 400 million years. During prehistoric times, there were about 10,000 different species of nautilus, but only a small handful are known to survive today. The nautilus is a mollusk and a member of the cephalopod family. It is closely related to other cephalopods such as the squid, cuttlefish, and octopus. Like most cephalopods, it can use jet propulsion to attain speeds of over two knots. A small tube near the animal’s tentacles, known as a siphon, expels water under pressure. This propels the nautilus in the opposite direction at high speeds. Octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms.

Octopuses have no internal or external skeleton (although some species have a vestigial remnant of a shell inside their mantle), allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are among the most intelligent and behaviorally flexible of all invertebrates. Oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified. Some kinds of oyster are commonly consumed, cooked or raw, by humans. These are considered an aphrodisiac. Other kinds, such as pearl oysters, are not eaten by humans, though they are edible. Pipefish is also known as Syngnathinae. Pipe fish belongs to the subfamily of small fishes like seahorses. Pipefishes likes to parenting with the seahorse family the duties is done by the male pipefish of the family. The operation is planned before itself and will be executed in time. Pair bonding is present in new varieties of Pipefishes. Plankton is the term that generally refers to the “floaters,” the organisms in the ocean that drift with the currents.

This includes the algae, zooplankton (“animal plankton”), phytoplankton (plankton that are capable of photosynthesis), and bacteria. Porcupine fish are nocturnal, carnivorous predators specialized in eating hard-shelled prey. Their strong beak-like mouth is used to seize and crush prey such as urchins, crabs, snails and clams. Like many animals that eat hard or prickly prey, porcupinefish also posess thick, rubbery lips to protect them from being injured by the spines and broken shells of the prey they eat. At night, porcupinefish can be observed actively combing the reef for food and investigating sandy areas, crevices and caves where their prey might be found. Puffer fish is a medium-sized species of fish that inhabits warmer, coastal waters around the world. The puffer fish is most well known for it’s unique and distinctive adaptations that the puffer fish has to defend itself. Scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world’s oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source.

The brightly colored, fan-shaped shells of some scallops, with their radiating fluted pattern, are valued by shell collectors and have been used as motifs in art and design. Sea Anemone is a stinger that lives almost its whole life as a polyp. Some sea anemones also go through a larva stage. sea anemone has a soft, muscular, cylinder-shaped stalk with a broad, circular foot at its base. Atop the stalk is a mouth surrounded by circular rows of hollow tentacles. The tentacles, which eject poisonous stinging threads to paralyze prey, grasp small animals and sweep them into the mouth. Sea cucumbers are echinoderms—like starfish and sea urchins. There are some 1,250 known species, and many of these animals are indeed shaped like soft-bodied cucumbers. All sea cucumbers are ocean dwellers, though some inhabit the shallows and others live in the deep ocean. They live on or near the ocean floor—sometimes partially buried beneath it. Sea Lion is built for the water, but, unlike the seal, it is also mobile on land.

Streamlined bodies, strong flippers and an ability to regulate body temperature make the sea lion suited to its watery environment. Sea Otter is a small marine mammal native to the north and eastern coasts of the Pacific Ocean. Despite the fact that sea otters are the largest members of the weasel family, sea otters are among the smallest mammals in the marine world. Sea Turtles are reptiles. They are cold blooded animals; their body temperatures adjust to the temperature of the surrounding waters. They breathe through lungs and must swim to the surface to breathe. However, they can “hold their breath” for a long time. Some sea turtles have stayed under water for up to 5 hours. The “legs” of sea turtles are actually flippers, and they are very strong swimmers, using the front flippers to swim and the rear flippers to steer and balance. Unlike other turtles, the sea turtle cannot retract its flippers or head into its shell. Sea Urchin is a prickly-looking echinoderm, spherical in shape and covered with long movable spines. Sea urchins have the longest spines of any echinoderm. Like sea stars, sea urchins have spines over much of their bodies.

Their spines stick out in all directions from their bony plates—just like little spears. And these spines are often poisonous. Sea Dragon is a small, delicate fish found in the tropical coastal waters of south and west Australia. Sea dragons look similar to and are in fact closely related to sea horses. Seahorses are truly unique, and not just because of their unusual equine shape. Unlike most other fish, they are monogamous and mate for life. Rarer still, they are among the only animal species on Earth in which the male bears the unborn young. Seals are marine mammals. The seal family includes the seal, sea lion and the walrus. A seal’s respiratory system is adapted for water. A seal can go for 40 minutes without a breath. This allows them to dive to a depth of over 2,000 feet. Sharks are a group of fishes characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorpha (or Selachii), and are the sister group to the rays.

However, the term “shark” has also been used for extinct members of the suborder Elasmobranchii outside the Selachimorpha, such as Cladoselache and Xenacanthus. Under this broader definition, the earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago Shrimps are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important food source for larger animals from fish to whales. They have a high tolerance to toxins in polluted areas, and may contribute to high toxin levels in their predators. Together with prawns, shrimp are widely caught and farmed for human consumption. Snail is a common name which is applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails.

The word snail without any qualifier is however more often applied to land snails than to those from the sea or freshwater. Snail-like animals that naturally lack a shell, or have only an internal shell, are often called slugs, and land species that have only a very small shell (that they cannot retract into) are called semislugs. Sponges are animals of the phylum Porifera. They are multicellular organisms which have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through them, consisting of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. Sponges have unspecialized cells that can transform into other types and which often migrate between the main cell layers and the mesohyl in the process. Sponges do not have nervous, digestive or circulatory systems. Instead, most rely on maintaining a constant water flow through their bodies to obtain food, oxygen and remove wastes. Starfish are beautiful animals that can be a variety of colors, shapes and sizes, although all resemble a star. While some appear smooth, they all have spines covering their upper surface and a soft underside. If you gently turn over a live sea star, you’ll see its tube feet wiggling back at you.

These iconic marine animals are fascinating creatures. Learn more about them below. Pacific Walrus are an important subsistence and cultural resource to many Alaska and Russian Native cultures. Walrus make up an important part of the diet of many coastal Alaska Natives. Byproducts are used to make authentic Native Alaskan handicrafts, as well as many of the items necessary to continue a subsistence lifestyle. Walrus hides are used for many proposes including covers for wooden boat frames and rope. Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales). This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga whale. The other Cetacean suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales) are filter feeders that eat small organisms caught by straining seawater through a comblike structure found in the mouth called baleen. This suborder includes the blue whale, the humpback whale, the bowhead whale and the minke whale.

Great Barrier Reef: Facts, Location & Animals Great Barrier Reef: Facts, Location & Animals By Kim Ann Zimmermann, Live Science Contributor | September 14, 2012 11:38am ET MORE Satellite image shows islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Credit: NASA/Landsat 7 The Great Barrier Reef is a mosaic of 2,900 individual reefs off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia. The sprawling reef can be seen from space and is not only the world's largest coral reef system but also the largest structure on Earth made by living organisms. Where is the Great Barrier Reef? The Great Barrier Reef stretches more than 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers) — a little more than the distance from Boston to Miami. It covers an area of 133,000 square miles (344,400 square km), reaching from the Torres Strait at it northernmost point to Fraser Island in the south. The reef includes Lady Elliot Island and the smaller Murray islands. Great Barrier Reef animals A coral reef consists of coral polyps, which are animals in the jellyfish family, along with algae called zooxanthellae.

In return for a cozy, safe place to live, the algae provide the building blocks polyps need to survive and make limestone to build the reef structures. The vast structures that result do more than awe snorkelers. [ Images: Colorful Corals of the Great Barrier Reef ] The Great Barrier Reef supports a vast array of life forms. Thirty species of whales, dolphins and porpoises have been recorded in the Great Barrier Reef, including the dwarf minke whale, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, and the humpback whale. This dugong is one of four seacow, or Sirenians, species in the world. They all live in different coastal areas of the ocean. Credit: Julien Willem Large populations of dugongs, large marine mammals that are relatives of the manatees, make their home along the reef. More than 1,500 fish species live on the reef, including the clownfish, red bass, red-throat emperor, and several species of snapper and coral trout. About 5,000 species of mollusks live on the reef.

Seventeen species of sea snake live on the Great Barrier Reef in warm waters up to 160 feet (49 meters) deep and are more common in the south than in the northern section. Six species of sea turtles — the green sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle, hawksbill turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, flatback turtle, and the olive ridley — come to the reef to breed. Saltwater crocodiles live in mangrove and salt marshes on the coast near the reef. The Great Barrier Reef is home to 215 species of birds (including 22 species of seabirds and 32 species of shorebirds) that visit the reef or nest or roost on the islands. The white-bellied sea eagle and roseate tern are frequently sighted. The 15 species of seagrass found along the reef attract the dugongs and turtles and provide habitats for the fish. The most common types of seagrasses are Halophila and Halodule.

The reefs are vital to the survival of several endangered species, so much so that in 2004, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) increased the amount of highly protected zones by almost 30 percent. How the reef formed The Great Barrier Reef is about 500,000 years old, but it hasn't always looked as it does today. Reefs on Australia's continental shelf have taken on many forms, depending on the sea level, and the current formation is about 6,000 to 8,000 years old. According to the Australian Institute of Marine Science and other scientific research, the current reef began to form during the Last Glacial Maximum. This period, which occurred from about 26,500 years ago to 19,000 to 20,000 years ago, ushered in significant environmental changes in the region, including a dramatic drop in sea levels. The land that forms the base of the Great Barrier Reef is the remains of the sediments of the Great Dividing Range, Australia's largest mountain range.

About 13,000 years ago, the sea level was 200 feet (61 meters) lower than the current level, and corals began to grow around the hills of the coastal plain, which had become continental islands. The sea level continued to rise during a warming period as glaciers melted. Most of the continental islands were submerged, and the coral remained to form the reefs and cays (low-elevation sandy islands) of today. Variety of reefs The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area is divided into 30 bioregions that consist of different types of reefs. Cresentic reefs — shaped like crescents as the name implies — are the most common shape of reef in the middle of the system. These types of reefs are found surrounding Lizard Island as well as far north of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and in the Swain Reefs. Flat reefs known as planar reefs are found in the northern and southern parts, near Cape York Peninsula, Princess Charlotte Bay and Cairns. The northern part of the Great Barrier Reef features ribbon reefs, which are narrow and winding, and deltaic reefs, which, as the name implies, resemble river deltas.

Fringing reefs, which attach to the mainland, are infrequent. Most occur in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef and are attached to high islands such as the Whitsunday Islands. Lagoonal reefs are found in the southern Great Barrier Reef, and further north, off the coast of Princess Charlotte Bay. [ Image Gallery: Great Barrier Reef Through Time ] Environmental concerns A tourism hotspot, approximately 2 million people visit the Great Barrier Reef every year, according to the Australian government. There is widespread concern that such intense tourism might be harming the fragile reefs. Pollution is another concern, as another oil spill occurred in 2010, when the Chinese coal-carrying ship Shen Neng1 ran aground on the reef, leaking a 1.86-mile-long (3 km) ribbon of oil and destroying precious coral and marine life. Declining water quality is a major factor in the pollution of the Great Barrier Reef. During tropical floods, runoff containing fertilizer and pesticides is dispensed into the reef's waters and harms its delicately balanced ecosystem. The runoff problem is made worse by the loss of coastal wetlands along the Queensland coast, which act as a natural filter for toxins.

The area of wetlands in the Great Barrier Reef catchment has decreased by over 50 percent, according to the Great Barrier Reef Coastal Wetlands Protection Program. — Kim Ann Zimmermann, LiveScience Contributor Editor's Recommendations Among the Whales - Yesterday's Island, Today's Nantucket Contact Among the Whales Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station I have friends visiting me from the Pacific Northwest and Texas this weekend and I have enjoyed taking them around the island to the many places that makes Nantucket so special. One of my favorites is the Nantucket Whaling Museum, which not only instills wonder at the size and beauty of whales, but also reminds me that we are especially lucky to be able to view these animals in the wild around the island. Over the past few years I have written about several individual species that have either washed ashore or been seen from local vessels. Nantucket’s proximity to popular feeding grounds and exposure to the open ocean results in it becoming an inevitable resting place for marine mammals in trouble. Where once islanders made their living by hunting down these mammoth creatures, we now marvel at and financially benefit from their presence.

A small minke whale swam into Nantucket Harbor a few weeks ago to both the delight and consternation of islanders. There is no definitive answer for why this mammal decided that the middle of August Race week was a good time to take a jaunt in the harbor. The most likely reason for its foray is that it was chasing small bait fish into the harbor and didn’t realize it made a mistake until it had practically booked a ticket on the Steamship slow boat. This happens somewhat frequently with common dolphins that get caught up in the chase of their prey and soon find they are ricocheting between cuspate spits along Coatue and the inner harbor shoreline on the south side. I wasn’t surprised to find out that the World Wildlife Fund ranks Massachusetts as the 10th best place in the world to whale watch. The best time for whale watching in Massachusetts is from April to October, although whales have been spotted in Bay State waters as early as mid-March and as late as early November. Whales migrate to Massachusetts to feed on mackerel, herring, krill, and other schooling fish that breed in these nutrient-rich waters.

As soon as the cold weather settles in, however, whales travel to warmer waters to mate and give birth. Several types of whales migrate to Massachusetts during feeding season. The most common sightings are humpback whales, which range in length from 35 feet to 55 feet and weigh nearly 37 tons. Also common are finback whales, ranging from 45 feet to 70 feet and weighing 40 tons. Minke, right, and pilot whales are also spotted in Massachusetts waters. On rare occasions, smaller species, including sperm, beluga, sei and blue whales, have recorded. Whales seen within 30 miles of Nantucket on local whale watches or that have washed ashore over the past ten years include finbacks, humpbacks, pygmy sperm, dwarf sperm, minke, and northern right whales. Over the past few years I have written about the dwarf (Kogia sima) and pygmy sperm (Kogia breviceps) whales that beached themselves here just because I had never heard of either of these until they appeared on our shores.

Common or northern minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) are members of the baleen whale family and are the smallest of the “great whales” or rorquals which include the humpback whale, the fin whale, the Bryde’s whale, the sei whale and the blue whale. The scientific name for minke whales translates to: “winged whale” (Balaenoptera) with a “sharp snout” (acutorostrata). Its close relative, the Antarctic minke whale or southern minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) shares many traits but inhabits the waters of the Southern Ocean for most of the year. Minke whales received their common name from a Norwegian novice whaling spotter named Meincke, who supposedly mistook a minke whale for a blue whale ( ). Minkes are relatively small whales with sickle-shaped dorsal fins located two-thirds of the way back on the body and white bands on their flippers, Minkes are pretty sleek for whales and typically exhibit no visible breath (spout).

Like all the rorquals, the minke is a fast swimmer, capable of reaching speeds of 18-24 knots (16-21 mph). The minke can be curious, and has been known to approach ships, even at times keeping up with moving vessels. Whale observers always look for long-distance cues such as spout patterns and fluke and tail behavior to identify whales at a distance and the minke rarely lifts its tail. Our harbor visitor was an excellent example of a minke and was estimated by Captain Blair Perkins of Shearwater Excursions (one of our many local New England Aquarium stranding volunteers) to be 20-25 feet long. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates there are 185,000 minke whales in the Atlantic. They prey on small schooling fish (like anchovies, dogfish, capelin, coal fish, cod, eels, herring, mackerel, salmon, sand lance, saury, and wolfish) and crustaceans. The animals grow to about 35 feet and can weigh up to 20,000 pounds.

They live up to 50 years and reach sexual maturity between three and eight years of age. Minke whales can be very active at the surface, breaching and “spyhopping” (a term for raising their heads vertically out of the water) while making clicking and, up until recently unidentified, “boing” sounds. You might recall last year that we had a juvenile humpback whale wash up on Smith’s Point in July. Humpbacks are seen relatively frequently around Nantucket. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae “mega” for “giant” and “ptera” for “wing”) may grow to be fifty-five feet long and they are usually black with long white flippers, knobby bumps on their heads and distinctive, variably sized dorsal fins. These are showy exciting animals on a whale watch with spectacular breaching maneuvers, exhibiting flamboyant tail lifting while diving with distinctive black and white patterns underneath. Their signature bubble net fishing techniques are icing on the cake. During the spring, summer, and fall, these whales are found most often around the sloping sides of the banks and ledges of the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and the continental shelf south of the Islands.

Humpbacks are baleen whales that feed on mostly small schooling fish like sand lance, herring, young mackerel, and krill. Each whale eats up to 1 1/2 tons (1,361 kg) of food a day. Because their feeding, mating, and calving grounds are close to shore and because they are slow swimmers, the humpback whales were an easy target for early whalers. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) gave them worldwide protection status in 1966, but there were large illegal kills until the 1970s. Population estimates vary from 35,000 to 70,000 individuals depending on the source. North Atlantic Right whales (Eubalaena glacialis which means “good, or true, whale of the ice”) are the most seriously endangered whales with a population teetering between 400-500 animals. According to a census of individual whales identified using photo-identification techniques, the latest available stock assessment data (December 2010) indicates that a minimum of 361 recognized individuals were known to be alive in 2005.

More than 450 North Atlantic right whales are thus thought to exist at present; almost all living in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Vessel strikes and entanglement in fixed fishing gear are the two greatest threats to their recovery. They migrate between their feeding grounds in the Gulf and Maine, the Bay of Fundy, and in Cape Cod Bay and their calving grounds down south off the coasts of Georgia and Florida. North Atlantic Right whales are stocky (they prefer big-boned) mostly black whales with no dorsal fins and rough white patches called callosities on their heads. They can be identified at a distance from their spouts which appears as a V-shaped pattern of water vapor due to their partitioned blow holes. When they dive they usually lift their black, triangular tail high. They eat zooplankton, including copepods (tiny crustaceans), euphausiids (small shrimp-like crustaceans), salps (gelatinous tunicates) and cyprids (barnacle larvae). Unlike other baleen whales, right whales are skimmers: they feed by removing prey from the water using baleen while moving with their mouth open through a patch of zooplankton.

Our other local cetacean denizen is the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), also called the finback whale, razorback, or common rorqual. Finback whales can be up to 80 feet in length and their dorsal fin is very far back on their dorsal (back or upper) side. They are the second longest animal in the world and the second in size after the Blue Whale. Finbacks are grayish, sleek whales with tall, curved dorsal fins. Their heads are asymmetrical with darker markings on the left side and lighter marking on the right side. The reason for this unusual coloring is unknown, but some scientists have speculated that fin whales circle schools of fish with the white side facing the prey and frightening them into denser schools that are easier for the whale to catch. Other scientists theorize that this lighter color is mostly pointed downward as they swim on the right side to feed. Of course a few have to swim on the left side just to mess with that theory. Similar to the minke whale, finbacks rarely lift their tails while swimming. Like other baleen whales, fin whales have two blowholes positioned in a V-shape while toothed whales have only one blowhole.

They have a broad, flat rostrum (upper part of the head). Their throat grooves or ventral pleats, in addition to streamlining their shape, allow their throat area to expand tremendously during feeding. In the North Atlantic, they prey on krill and small schooling fish e.g. capelin, herring, and sand lance) which they can scoop up while swimming on their sides at speeds from 6-10 mph while side-feeding and up to 25 mph while lunging into balls of fish. Fin whales were severely overhunted in the 19th and 20th centuries and are still hunted by commercial vessels from Iceland and Japan and aboriginal subsistence vessels from Greenland. Estimates suggest that the population of the remaining fin whales in the all the world’s seas range from less than 100,000 to roughly 119,000. As with many whale species there is a division of species between northern and southern hemispheres.

The fin whale that inhabits the North Atlantic is the Northern fin whale, (Balaenoptera physalus physalus) which is smaller than and distinct from the southern fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus quoyi). Fin whales are more gregarious than other rorquals, and often live in groups of 6–10, although feeding groups may reach up to 100 animals. Another relatively common marine mammal visitor is the long finned Pilot whale (Globicephala melas). Like the orca, the long-finned pilot whale is really a dolphin (Delphinidae family). Six of the larger species in the Delphinidae, the Orca and the Pilot (long-finned and short-finned), Melonheaded, Pygmy Killer and False Killer Whales, are commonly called whales, rather than dolphins; they are also sometimes collectively known as “blackfish.” A female pilot whale beached itself twice and eventually died in June of 2011 near Smith’s Point. Pilot whales are often involved in mass strandings off of Cape Cod.

During the summer of 2000, there was a mass stranding of 11 pilot whales on Nantucket on the 4th of July. The weather was clear and calm and the animals showed no obvious underlying health problems as opposed to other mass strandings that can be linked to storms or unusually high or low tides. From the New England Aquarium (NEAQ) website: “The term “mass stranding” refers to events in which groups of distressed cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) come ashore alive. They can involve anywhere from a few to several hundred animals. Mass strandings regularly occur in several parts of the world (primarily Australia, New Zealand and Cape Cod), yet so far we have no universally accepted, comprehensive explanation for this syndrome. In many cases, the animals show no obvious signs of health problems other than those resulting from coming ashore. Although mass strandings typically occur during winter months and at times of severe weather, they can occur at any time of year and under any conditions. Once a cetacean comes ashore, a cascade of physiological changes occurs, often resulting in shock and death.

Because the species typically involved are extremely social, the bonds that hold groups together are perhaps strong enough to supersede the survival instincts of individual animals. Although we don’t know what specifically might set off a mass stranding event, we know that once animals start coming ashore, it’s extremely difficult to stop the process from continuing and escalating. Affected animals will relentlessly follow one another ashore, as if crippled by widespread panic, even when there is clear access to open water. Gregarious offshore species such as Atlantic white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus) and long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melaena) are particularly known to mass strand in New England, mainly on Cape Cod.” Sometimes it does not pay to be one of those friendly party people. It is important to remember that all marine mammals are protected under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. This year marks the 40th anniversary of this critically important legislation which has ensured that our children and grandchildren will be able to see these creatures in the wild.

The New England Aquarium (NEAQ) oversees the Nantucket Stranding Team volunteers on island and local volunteers go through extensive NEAQ training before they are allowed to work with the team. The aquarium is authorized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service to respond to marine mammal strandings of whales, dolphins, porpoises and other animals. Anyone spotting a stranded marine mammal on Nantucket is urged stay away from the animal, and to call the NEAQ’s 24-hour stranding hotline at (617) 973-5247. Did you like this article? Share it with your friends! KILLER WHALES (Orcinus orca) - Diet & Eating Habits Diet & Eating Habits InfoBook HOME Food Preferences & Resources Killer whales are top-level predators in the ocean. Killer whales are the largest predator of warm-blooded animals alive today. Globally, killer whales appear to have an extremely diverse diet. Yet, individual ecotypes or populations are often extremely specialized. In many parts of the world, killer whales prey on fishes or marine mammals, but not both.

Worldwide, killer whales have been observed preying on more than 140 species of animals, including many species of bony fish, sharks and rays, and 50 different species of marine mammals. Killer whales have also been reported to eat many other types of animals including leatherback sea turtles, dugongs, moose, and penguins and other seabirds. Antarctic small type B killer whales have been observed hunting penguins like these Adélies. Antarctic type A killer whales have been observed hunting southern elephant seals. Each killer whale ecotype has a fairly specific diet. The five forms of Antarctic killer whales differ in their diet: Type A whales eat mostly Antarctic minke whales and have also been observed hunting southern elephant seals. Minke whales are hunted by the North Atlantic type 2 killer whales in the northern hemisphere and by the Antarctic type A and large type B ecotypes in the southern hemisphere. Large type B whales eat mainly seals, especially Weddell seals, and also hunt minke whales. Small type B killer whales have been observed hunting penguins and are believed to mainly eat fishes. Type C killer whales mostly eat Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni).

Little is known about the diet of type D killer whales, however, they have been observed preying on Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) caught on longlines. The feeding habits of resident and transient whales of the eastern North Pacific Ocean differ. Resident whales spend about 60% to 65% of daylight hours foraging for fishes. Salmon make up 96% of their diet; Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) is the preferred species. Their diet is highly specialized and this dependence may be a limiting factor for this population. To a much lesser degree, residents are also known to eat one species of squid (Gonatopsis borealis) and 22 other species of fish including rockfish (Sebastes spp.), Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) and Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi). There is no evidence of resident killer whales eating marine mammals. The eastern North Pacific resident killer whales prefer Chinook salmon. Transient whales spend about 90% of daylight hours foraging.

They primarily eat marine mammals including seals, sea lions, walruses, baleen whales, other toothed whales, and occasionally sea otters. The transient ecotype in the eastern North Pacific hunt marine mammals including sea otters. Researchers theorize that the divergent, specialized feeding habits of resident and transient killer whales help prevent these two groups of whales from competing with each other for food. Such extremely different feeding habits, which is not known to occur in any other sympatric mammal species, has also resulted in significant differences in vocalizations, echolocation, group size and behavior between the two ecotypes. The diet of offshore killer whales in the northeastern Pacific include fishes such as salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), sculpin (Cottus spp.), Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis), and Pacific sleeper sharks (Somniosus pacificus). In the North Atlantic, the type 1 killer whales consume a varied diet that includes seals and small, schooling fishes such as herring and mackerel. Type 2 killer whales specialize in cetacean prey including dolphins, porpoises, and baleen whales such as minke whales.

In the North Atlantic, type 1 killer whales hunt schooling fishes such as these herring. Although rarely seen, killer whales in Hawaiian waters seem to have a more varied diet including humpback whales, dolphins, octopuses and squids. Although rarely seen, killer whales in Hawaiian waters seem to have a more varied diet including dolphins. Food Intake At SeaWorld parks, adult killer whales eat approximately 1% to 3.5% of their body weight in food per day. Growing calves eat more — as much as 10% of body weight during growth periods. At zoological parks, calves begin to take a few fish at about two to three months. A killer whale's lower teeth emerge at about 11 weeks. By the age of one year, calves at SeaWorld eat 23 to 27 kg (50-60 lb.) of herring, smelt, and squid per day. Killer whales don't chew their food. They swallow their food whole, or they may tear or shred it. Methods of Collecting Food Killer whales often hunt cooperatively in pods for food. Salmon-eating resident killer whales in the North Pacific often pursue prey singularly or in small groups.

After a successful kill they regularly (75% of the time) share their fish, usually family members and particularly offspring. At times killer whales work together to encircle and herd small prey before attacking. The comparatively large pod size of resident whales is an advantage when herding a school of fish. Researchers observed Norwegian killer whales hunting cooperatively using a "carousel-feeding" technique. They cooperatively herded small fishes into a tight ball close to the surface. Then the whales stunned the fishes with their tail flukes and ate the stunned fish. To hunt a large baleen whale, a pod of killer whales may attack the whale from several angles. One attack was witnessed by SeaWorld researchers. About 30 killer whales attacked an 18.2 m (60 ft.) blue whale. Two killer whales stayed ahead and two brought up the rear while the others surrounded the blue whale from the sides and underneath in an apparent effort to prevent escape. Some leaped onto its back. The whales took turns biting flesh and blubber from their prey. After five hours the pod broke off the attack. Around New Zealand a group of seven killer whales were observed hunting a shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrhinchus).

As the shark attempted to retreat, it was bitten and held by its tail and then around its girth and head until consumed. Another group of killer whales was filmed attacking a blue shark (Prionace glauca) by striking it hard at the surface of the water with their tail flukes. Transient pods are known to "sneak attack" marine mammals. These small groups most often hit quietly or silently. Other observed transient hunting techniques include driving and trapping groups of Pacific white-sided dolphins in confined bays and ramming sea lions with their heads or stunning them with tail fluke swats before taking the animal underwater and drowning it. In the Antarctic, individual killer whales slide out onto ice floes to hunt penguins. Similarly, killer whales sometimes slide up onto sand bars or beaches to hunt pinnipeds such as juvenile elephant seals. Killer whales sometimes hit ice floes from below to knock penguins and pinnipeds into the water. When an ice floe is too big to be overturned, Antarctic type B killer whales will swiftly swim side-by-side at the ice floe, diving below the floe at the last second, to create a wave large enough to wash a hauled out seal into the water.

Sometimes killer whales feed in connection with fisheries operations, eating fishes that slip from the nets and bycatch (nontarget fish caught during a fishing operation) discarded by fishermen. In some areas, killer whales congregate near longline boats and feed on the hooked fish. To hunt a large baleen whale, a pod of killer whales may attack the whale from several angles. Prey such as these sea lions, may not be safe from killer whales even on land. Killer whales also hunt individually. In the Antarctic, killer whales slide out onto ice floes to hunt penguins. Similarly, killer whales sometimes slide up onto sand bars or beaches to hunt sea lions. Killer whales sometimes hit ice floes from below to knock prey into the water. An encounter between a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and killer whales was documented off of Southeast Farallon Island near San Francisco, California. Two killer whales were in the area feeding on a California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) — a favored food of great whites. Perhaps the smell of fresh sea lion blood drew the shark to the area, but once one of the killer whales sighted the great white it immediately charged and contacted the shark under water.

The killer whale pulled the 3 to 4 m (10-13 ft.) shark to the surface in its mouth and the killer whales consumed sections of the great white such as its enormous liver. This is certainly no indication of what may happen every time killer whales face great whites, but it does demonstrate the variety of a killer whale's diet.

Question: What type of creature is a minke?
Answer: Whale